The differences in energy metabolism and redox status between sows with short and long farrowing duration

Farrowing duration is a crucial factor affecting survival of piglets and health of sows, and is highly correlated with the incidence of stillbirth. The present study assessed the metabolic characteristics of sows with short farrowing duration (SFD) or long farrowing duration (LFD). A total of 20 Yorkshire sows were screened from 60 sows and were retrospectively allocated into SFD (211 min on average, n = 10) or LFD (388 min on average, n = 10) group. Parameters associated with energy metabolism and redox status were characterised. Results showed that sows at farrowing had decreased plasma concentrations of glucose, triglyceride, acetate, butyrate and total short-chain fatty acids (P < 0.05), but increased concentrations of lactic acid and propionate (P < 0.05), when compared with sows on day 107 of gestation. The SFD sows had shorter time from last meal until the onset of farrowing (P < 0.05) and tended to have less stillbirths (P = 0.08) and lower stillbirth rate (P = 0.07). For the blood metabolites, SFD sows at farrowing had higher concentration of plasma glucose (P < 0.05), but lower concentration of lactic acid (P < 0.05) than LFD sows. Besides, SFD sows tended to have higher plasma malondialdehyde concentration (P = 0.06) than LFD sows. Correlation analysis showed that farrowing duration was negatively correlated with plasma glucose concentration at onset of farrowing. In conclusion, our study strongly suggests that glucose is a key metabolite for energy metabolism of the uterus during farrowing. The farrowing process could be closely related to uterine energy expenditure, and sows with shorter farrowing duration could be resulting from the shorter time from last meal until the onset of farrowing, associated with a greater proportion of energy from glucose.